Tuesday, November 3, 2015

In MN, a Strong ‘Fair Scheduling’ Law for Workers Runs Into a Corporate Roadblock

Less than a
year after San Francisco passed a first-of-its-kind fair scheduling ordinance
for retail employers, progressive activists in Minneapolis began pushing for an
even stronger scheduling ordinance of their own—along with paid sick leave,
wage theft protections, and the possibility of a $15 minimum wage.

But the
campaign, dubbed the Working Families Agenda, ran into a roadblock earlier this
month when its most powerful political ally, Mayor Betsy Hodges, decided to
abandon the fair scheduling component. Language in the proposed ordinance
called for scheduling notice of at least two weeks in advance and extra
“predictability pay” for workers who were scheduled after that threshold.

Those
requirements quickly awoke the local business lobby, typically a fairly dormant
political power in a city with a strong progressive streak. In late September,
opponents formed the Workforce Fairness Coalition by the Chamber of Commerce,
and included prominent members like the Minnesota Business Partnership (which represents
about 80 businesses, including Target, U.S. Bancorp and Xcel Energy) and the
Minnesota Restaurant Association. They took specific issue with the scheduling
law, saying that it would impede operations and could force businesses to flee
the city.

Many
progressive activists don’t buy that argument.

“We heard
the same arguments from the Chamber of Commerce that are being made in Minneapolis,” says Gordon Mar, who led the
campaign to pass San Francisco’s Retail Worker Bill of Rights,
which includes fair scheduling. “As we’ve been implementing the law, those
arguments have proven to be just as hollow as they were in business’s
opposition to other worker-friendly laws."

Minneapolis
Mayor Betsy Hodges ran in 2013 on a campaign that promised to directly address
the city’s stark racial disparities, aspiring for a “One Minneapolis.” The city
has some of the largest gaps in the country between whites and people of color
for a number of indicators including rates of high school graduation,
homeownership, low-level arrests and employment.

Those
disparities are rampant in the workplace, too. For example, 63 percent of white
workers in Minneapolis have access
to earned sick time compared with just 32 percent of Latino workers. A
Minnesota Department of Health report found that 79 percent of
food workers—many of whom are minorities—lacked paid sick time.

In her 2015
State of the City address just six months ago, Hodges outlined an agenda she
said would address economic disparities, specifically calling for an ambitious
plan to implement fair scheduling, wage theft protection and paid sick leave.
But since then, Hodges appears to have taken business’s concerns to
heart.

“When it
comes to fair, predictable scheduling, I have heard from many people, including
many business owners, that the issue is complicated and that more time is
needed to engage in this important issue,” the mayor said in a
statement on October 14. “As a result, I have come to the conclusion
that we are not in a position to resolve the concerns satisfactorily on the
timeline currently contemplated.”

“Our
progressive champions were not prepared for the pushback and frankly folded
under the pressure, … caving to conservative business elements,” says Anthony
Newby, executive director for Minnesota Neighborhoods Organizing for Change, a
member of the coalition supporting these policies. “Where does [Hodges] want to
be allied? With working people or with the worst actors of the business
community?”

The day
after Hodges’ announcement, about 300 people streamed into City Hall in
downtown Minneapolis to reaffirm support for all aspects of the Working Families
Agenda. Workers and organizers spoke about the daily burdens of low-wage work
and how they contribute to the racial disparities that plague a city often
portrayed as a progressive wonderland. Minneapolis NAACP President Nekima
Levy-Pounds described the city’s situation as a tale of two cities: “It’s the
best of times if you’re white and the worst of times if you’re black.”

While the
scheduling law language had not been set in stone, many businesses were
concerned with its details. At first, advanced notice for schedules was set at
four weeks, which was eventually scaled back to two. For every change an
employer made to a worker’s schedule within two weeks of the shift, that worker
would earn an hour’s wage worth of “predictability pay.” For any schedule
change within 24 hours of a shift, a worker would get four hours’ pay.

Opponents
were quick to cast this as an unrealistic policy with a costly burden placed on
employers, and would be completely unworkable for restaurants, retailers and
many other businesses that they say are dependent on “flexible” scheduling
models. Advocates are quick to point out, though, that current workplace
scheduling standards put all the cost on workers. For example, if a worker
relies on childcare during her shifts and an employer tells her to stay late,
many childcare centers charge fees for late pickups; or, having already spent
money on childcare and transit, she could arrive at work to find her shift has
been cut.

On fair
scheduling, says Elianne Farhat with the Center for Popular Democracy’s Fair
Workweek Initiative, it’s clear there’s going to be a cost. “What gets lost in
the conversation is that it’s not that there isn’t a cost right now— it’s just
that the workers are bearing that cost,” Farhat says. “What [fair scheduling]
is trying to do is balance that cost.”

Despite
Hodges’ call for more time to parse out details on scheduling, activists aren’t
backing off. Her announcement seems to have galvanized many local organizations
that previously were on the fence. Organizers say they will continue to
advocate for paid sick leave and wage theft protections in the immediate future
while aiming for an eventual victory on fair scheduling.

Compromises
will likely need to be made. While San Francisco’s scheduling law applied only to
big chain stores, Minneapolis’s fair scheduling proposal is
universal. That may need to be scaled back, according to activists: Some added
flexibility for “predictability pay” requirements may be needed, and
further discussion about phase-in periods for smaller businesses will likely be
coming. But organizers say they didn’t expect an easy path to passing the
strongest scheduling law in the country. In fact, at a city council
meeting last week two members announced a plan to refer the proposed paid sick leave
policy to a new committee made up of workers, labor leaders, employers and
business associations that would meet in mid-November and hash out details.

“‘No’ is
not an answer. The question is what does it take to get a yes,” says Newby. “We
need to figure out what is that sweet spot that’s gonna work for us. That may
take a little bit more time.”

> The
article above was written by Justin Miller, and is reprinted from In TheseTimes.